Have you ever had a manicure at a professional salon? Notice that when you paint your nails at home, the nail polish never seems to last more than a day or two? Your polish stays when you have a professional manicure because the manicurist doesn't rush and just throw nail polish on unprepared nails, like we do at home.

You need to properly prepare your nail bed for the polish to adhere to it correctly. By following the 3 basic nail polish steps: base coat, polish and top coat, your nail polish should last for at least 4-7 days. Let's explain exactly what a base coat and top coat does for your manicure. Along with another step so many woman skip when polishing: priming.

Priming

Priming is a crucial step during any polish change. It is also the most forgotten. Priming takes all the oils off the nail bed before polishing, creating a perfect ,clean canvass for you to paint. By removing the oils in your nail bed, the polish adheres to the nails better, giving you longer lasting polish results with fewer chips. All you need to do is saturate a cotton ball with nail polish remover and wipe each clean nail to remove any oils.

Nail polish Base Coat

First off, stay away from products that claim to be 2 in 1 base coat/top coat. Both are formulated to do two different jobs and it makes no sense to use the same for both jobs. Look for a calcium gel bas coat. Calcium gel will strengthen and help nails to grow faster.

How can you tell the difference between a base coat and a top coat? Base coats should dry matte or dull with a tacky finish. they also dry fast. Top coats should dry Shiny and smooth and they dry much slower than a base coat.

Base coats also prevent nail polish from staining the nails. They also create a sticky adhesive base for the nail polish to "hold" onto. To remove stains from nails, see our Natural Nail care Recipes section.

Nail polish Top Coat

Top coats act as a protective barrier. They prevent nail polish from fading and chipping and give you a long lasting shine. To make your nail polish last longer, apply a layer of top coat every day.

To steady your hand while polishing, anchor your pinkie on your work surface and grasp the brush with your thumb and other three fingers.

The quick-dry spray (which dries the top coat only) will dull the polish.

Base coats should dry matte, sticky, and fast.

Top coats should dry shiny and slow.

To fix chipping nails, place some nail polish remover on your finger tip and gentle rub over the nail polish chip to make smooth. Then reapply polish.

Run hands under cold water to help speed up the nail polish drying process.

Bubbles in your nail polish are caused by insufficient drying time between coats. You must allow each polish coat to dry sufficiently to avoid bubbles.

To remove nail stains, soak nails in 1/2 cup of water and juice of one lemon for up to 15 minutes or soak in hydrogen peroxide or 5-10 minutes. This works great or all your hair colorists who hate to wear gloves when you color! See Natural homemade nail care recipes for more nail care at home.

The best way to dry your nail polish fast is to us a UV light dryer.

Apply the nail polish in several THIN coats instead of thick ones.

After applying a second coat of nail polish, skim the brush across the top of your nail tip to prevent chipping.

Try not to remove and reapply polish more than once or twice a week, as it will dry out your nails.

If you want faster growing nails, be sure that your diet is rich in Vitamins A, B-Complex, C, D, E and iron, calcium, zinc, sulfur, and fatty acids. Adding a dietary supplement such as Knox for Nails, Gelatine Dietary Supplement, will provide important nutrients that help promote healthy, stronger nails. And it's great for the hair too!